Subject to the guidelines of the Connecticut College Archives Collection Development Policy, the Connecticut College Archives accepts donations of personal papers or manuscripts, in print or digital formats, that document the careers and contributions of individual board members, faculty, administrators, staff, students, and alumni of the college. Records of organizations that are related to the college and its mission are also accepted.
Types of personal materials with archival value
- Teaching materials: lecture notes, syllabi, course outlines, examinations, reading lists
- Correspondence with colleagues, professional organizations, and former students; includes related files and attachments
- Publications: articles, books, reviews, works of art and music, speeches, professional papers, presentations
- Program development records
- College committee minutes, correspondence, or reports
- Honors and awards
- Resumes or vitae
- Diaries or journals covering time spent at or in service to the college
- Photographs, slides, audio-visual material—must be identified with date and event
- College memorabilia or artifacts
Donation Procedure
When individual faculty, administrators, board members, students, alumni or staff donate their personal or professional papers to the College Archives, the donation is documented with a Deed of Gift whenever possible.
Personal papers or manuscripts, in print or digital formats, may be arranged to be sent to the Archives at any time; however, these papers are most often sent at the time of retirement, or when leaving Connecticut College.
Please contact the College Archivist prior to sending any donation to the Archives. Small amounts of materials can be sent through campus mail or dropped off at the Lear Center.
For donating larger amounts of materials to the Archives, please follow this procedure:
- Obtain boxes for your papers (see Vendor List)
- Fill boxes entirely (from front to back)
- Provide a list of box contents/inventory if possible; this is very helpful to Lear Center staff and researchers
- Complete a Deed of Gift form
- Contact the College Archives in advance of delivery so we know it is coming
- Deliver the papers to the College Archives
- For materials on campus: Put in a work order to arrange delivery to the Lear Center on the second floor of Shain Library. Please do not leave archival materials outside the Lear Center or on the Shain Library loading dock.
- For materials off campus: Contact the College Archivist to arrange a time to drop off the papers